Customs agents seized exactly 756,380 packs of counterfeit smokes on Dec. 20, 2007 and Jan. 8, 2008. The cigarettes were apparently destined for retailers across North America under distribution deals hatched by Connecticut-based Sorensen Lighted Controls and Damakali S.A. de CV of Mexico, the lawsuit contends.

Virginia-based Philip Morris believes the cigarettes were manufactured in China. It’s seeking monetary compensation and an end to the “illegal importation, distribution and sale” of its products, said Philip Morris spokeswoman Paige Magness.

The company said fake Marlboros are often marketed as the genuine thing.

“Our trademarks are our key asset, and when we think there may be contraband products in the marketplace, it not only causes us alarm, but it concerns law-abiding businesses who want to sell legitimate (Marlboro) products,” said Philip Morris Spokeswoman Paige Magness.

The tobacco business’s legal actions come as U.S. Customs agents report growing seizures of counterfeit merchandise at the port complex.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates counterfeit and pirated goods cost the L.A. County area more than $4 billion in lost wages and 100,000 jobs in the past decade.

Hit especially hard are the film, music and fashion industries, but products like illegal cigarettes also cut into retailer revenue and state and federal tax rolls, the chamber says.

Most of the fake products, which increasingly include phony designer clothes and bootleg DVDs, are smuggled into the United States in ocean containers labeled to look like legitimate merchandise.

kristopher.hanson@presstelegram.com

FIND OUT MORE

The U.S. Chamber has created a Web site, www. truecosts.org, to educate the public about counterfeiting and piracy.